Patricia Arredondo

Associate Vice Chancellor, Office of Academic Affairs

Professor, Department of Educational Psychology

Patricia Arredondo teaches classes in multicultural counseling, latinas/os organizational development and consultation, and practicum. She also serves as both as Associate Vice Chancellor in the Office of Academic Affairs and a Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology.

Arredondo's scholarship has historically addressed issues or groups that are marginalized or under-discussed in the counseling and psychology literature. Thus, she began her career with a research focus on immigrant adolescents and their families, hoping to describe normal developmental life changes and identity challenges for adolescents from different Asian, Eastern European, Caribbean, and Latino cultural backgrounds. This broad lens with attention to educational, socioeconomic, and language factors illuminated for her the necessity to introduce cultural competency as a requisite domain in counselor education and training. Thus, she has developed theoretical models for cultural competency to guide teaching, research, clinical practice, including assessment, and organizational change. These multicultural competencies and guidelines have been adapted for application with multiple underrepresented populations in the literature (GLBTQ and multiracial/biracial, and so forth) and been tested for their efficacy as constructs with validity and reliability.

A third area of research lies with the broad area of counseling with Latinos. With full recognition of the heterogeneity of contemporary Latinas/os, situational counseling approaches serve as the multidimensional lens to consider the “how tos” and “whys” for counseling. Again, education and training are the fundamental focus. Arredondo's fourth major scholarship area is organizational climate and diversity initiatives in the workplace. With a methodology for climate assessment, she has conducted proprietary research with corporations, colleges, and universities, non-profits, and so forth. Thematic to these four broad research domains is her attention to issues of women, particularly women of color. A cross-cutting theme to all of her work is the woman factor. She is particularly attentive to the socialization of women cross culturally, the role of women in the workplace and factors that impact their advancement, and with Latinas, the multidimensionality of women in a “conservative” cultural context.

She is currently the chair of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Outstanding Dissertation Competition, on the executive board for the UWM Center for Urban Health Population, an Advisor to the National Latina/o Psychological Association Executive Committee and the Latino Professional Network Executive Board of Boston, and a regular book reviewer for the American Counseling Association and the American Psychological Association

Arredondo received her Ed.M. in Counseling from Boston College and her Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology from Boston University.

Current Research Projects

In 2007, a team of doctoral and masters students from Arizona State University worked with Arredondo to complete a three-year community-based research study in Phoenix. The purpose of the study was to examine goals, values, and lifestyles for first-time immigrant Latino homeowners in a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood of 194 homes. The areas of inquiry included: quality of life priorities, attitudes toward education, spirituality orientation, healthcare beliefs and practices, and couple decision-making practices. All instruments used in the study with adults and adolescents were translated and back translated (English/Spanish). The team was respectful of community agencies and residents who were essential to the successful implementation of our project. Thus, the homeowners association and on-site director of the neighborhood management team were on-going collaborators.

Honors

Fellow of Division 17 Society of Counseling Psychology and Division 45, Society for the Study of Ethnic Minority Issues of the APA, Living Legend of the ACA, Honorary Doctorate from the University of San Diego, Business Woman award from the Boston Chamber of Commerce.

View Patricia Arredondo's curriculum vitae